Lucilo Teck Explains Injunction Against B.S.C.F.A.

Lucilo Teck

Both the B.S.C.F.A. and Lucilo Teck were making the media rounds this morning. Teck, a former secretary of the B.S.C.F.A., maintains that the purpose for seeking an injunction would have been to prevent the committee of management from signing unto the agreement with ASR/B.S.I. since it was unauthorized to do so. Teck says that notwithstanding the stoppage of the agreement they are still very much willing to negotiate better terms for cane farmers.

Lucilo Teck, Former Secretary, B.S.C.F.A.

“Why I had to put the injunction is because simply [put], we the people, the farmers did never agree, we never authorized the committee of management because the information we had about three main points, about the seven years and the ceding of our rights once a load of cane enters B.S.I., the payment of bagasse. Farmers had never agreed that a fifty-one cent payment is justified. So because we have our rights as cane farmers not to agree with the committee’s decision because we were not fully informed. They only brought the final day that they went to negotiate and terrible things happened, the negotiating team were not invited, they were prevented from attending and it was the directors, as I understand, eighteen directors who made this decision with the DPM and then just presented it as a fact that they had agreed. The eighteen directors had agreed but they never went further to consult us. So on that date, the fourteenth of December when they had the general meeting, the special general meeting to conform the agreement which they eighteen directors, including the committee of management, we felt that they were going to sign an agreement that was not in our favor. So there was an opportunity, a last hour opportunity that as a farmer, and I was a former committee secretary for the committee of management, so I was the one who initiated these negotiations, I requested it and I signed for it as the secretary under the chairman Mr. Ortega. So I know all about this negotiation. Well our only hope was to prevent them from signing on Monday because you’ll remember it was a holiday so we had a breathing space that we managed to file this injunction, we called it a temporary injunction to halt them not to sign it and it went through the injunction and they had to obey it. So finally, in our letter to them, the committee of management, we put the agenda to them that we do not agree, let the people decide finally, let the people have full information given to the people, farmers. But in the agenda we added, our agenda, that negotiations should continue but to allow farmers to have better, beneficial terms in this agreement that they would have accepted but we are willing, it’s our right to negotiate more favorable terms than what exists. And one of the favorable terms is that we want to continue to negotiate. We are not saying that because we’ve stopped this agreement that we are not willing to negotiate. We made it clear to the committee of management that if they did not present it at our last meeting on Sunday it is not our fault.”

Viewers please note: This Internet newscast is a verbatim transcript of our evening television newscast. Where speakers use Kriol, we attempt to faithfully reproduce the quotes using a standard spelling system.